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Read. Follow. Verify.Louisiana Updates Public School Emergency Operations Plans and Safety Drill Mandates
Last action · June 8, 2026: Effective date: 08/01/2026.Sponsor: Mike Johnson
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What This Bill Does
Louisiana public schools are required to update emergency operations plans, conduct specific safety drills within the first thirty instructional days of each school year, and ensure occupied classroom doors remain locked and actively staffed if left open. The legislation also establishes structured threat assessment teams and mandates annual safety reporting to state education authorities. These provisions apply to public school governing authorities, administrators, teachers, and students.
Changes safety protocol requirements across Louisiana public and charter schools, mandating specific classroom door security measures, annual questionnaires, and mandatory active shooter drills for students and staff starting in the 2026 school year.
- House Bill 624 was enacted during the 2026 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature and signed into law by the Governor as Act 821. context
Who It Affects
Groups the bill's text affects, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
public school principals
Public school principals must jointly prepare emergency operations plans, conduct mandatory drills, submit written reports, provide in-service staff training, and maintain accessible copies of plans.
teachers and school employees
Teachers and employees must receive notifications regarding plan revisions, participate in mandatory in-service training workshops, and ensure classroom doors remain locked or actively staffed.
public school students
Students participate in annual safety drills and active shooter scenarios, and high school students contribute input to annual emergency plan reviews.
charter schools
Charter schools are explicitly required to comply with statutory mandates regarding school crisis management and response emergency operations plans.
Key Facts
- Each public school principal must jointly prepare a school emergency operations plan with local law enforcement, fire, public safety, and emergency preparedness officials.
- Within the first thirty instructional days of each school year, each public school principal must conduct a safety drill that includes an active shooter assailant scenario.
- Classroom doors and other instructional spaces must remain locked and secured to prevent entry when occupied by students, unless actively staffed if left open.
- High school principals must seek and consider input from students, represented by the senior class president or student council president and at least one other student, during annual plan reviews.
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- Public schools must complete an annual school safety questionnaire developed by the Louisiana Center for Safe Schools and the state Department of Education.
- Emergency preparedness activities are classified into discussion-based exercises (seminars, workshops, tabletop exercises) and operations-based exercises (drills, functional exercises, full-scale exercises).
- School emergency operations plans are exempt from the state Public Records Law in accordance with R.S. 44:3.1.
- Charter schools are explicitly made subject to statutory requirements regarding school crisis management and response emergency operations plans under R.S. 17:416.16.
- Each school year, principals must provide in-service training workshops for all teachers and employees pertaining to the emergency plan, involving local public safety officials.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are public school principals required to do regarding safety drills?
Are classroom doors required to remain locked during instructional time?
Are school emergency operations plans available to the public under public records laws?
What else do you want to know?
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Current status: Signed into law.
Procedural history
22 actions- Jun 8, 2026HouseEnrolledSigned by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 821.
- Jun 8, 2026HouseEffective date: 08/01/2026.
- Jun 1, 2026SenateEnrolledSigned by the President of the Senate.
- Jun 1, 2026HouseSent to the Governor for executive approval.
- May 31, 2026HouseEnrolledEnrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
- May 29, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, roll called, yeas 96, nays 0, Senate amendments concurred in.
Show 16 earlier actions
- May 27, 2026HouseScheduled for concurrence on 05/29/2026.
- May 26, 2026SenateFloorRules suspended. The amended bill was read by title, passed by a vote of 35 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
- May 26, 2026HouseReceived from the Senate with amendments.
- May 20, 2026SenateFloorReported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
- May 19, 2026SenateFloorCommittee amendments read and adopted. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
- May 18, 2026SenateReported with amendments.
- May 4, 2026SenateCommitteeRead second time by title and referred to the Committee on Education.
- Apr 29, 2026HouseFloorRead third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 97, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
- Apr 29, 2026SenateReceived in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
- Apr 27, 2026HouseFloorRead by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
- Apr 27, 2026HouseScheduled for floor debate on 04/29/2026.
- Apr 23, 2026HouseCommitteeReported favorably (14-0).
- Mar 9, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Education.
- Feb 27, 2026HousePrefiled.
- Feb 27, 2026HouseCommitteeUnder the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Education.
- Feb 27, 2026HouseFirst appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/27/2026.
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
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Sources
www.legis.la.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy20Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz35Current news / social attention level
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